The Shifting Role Of The CIOThe Shifting Role Of The CIO

A couple of years ago at an information Conference, a keynote talk was given by economist and Stanford professor Paul Romer, who offered this line as part of his explanation for how he came to be doing what he was doing: "I became an economist because very early in my career I wanted to be an accountant but was told I didn't have enough personality." And what if you had a buck for each time you heard someone in your company malign "the bean counters"? Plus, Herb Lovelace, my fellow information columnist and Secret CIO, regularly skewers his colleague Gornish, the scheming and profoundly tactical CFO at Herb's company. It would seem that Rodney Dangerfield gets a lot more respect than do many in the financial profession.

But while that all might make you feel a little better as you recall budget meetings where the CFO chiseled away at your proposed budget without taking the time to understand your projects--and you remember his sinister smile as he ground his grit-covered heel into the top of your bare foot--I think we're rapidly approaching a time when forward-thinking business-technology managers have to wonder what the interplay between CIO, CTO, and CFO will be like in a year or two. Is it possible that the ever-swinging pendulum of change, which over the past few years has seen a huge shift away from having CIOs report to CFOs, will swing back that way? As CFOs respond to the demand that they become more knowledgeable about business technology, will CIOs become nothing more than tactical implementers?

We covered this topic extensively last week, exploring the dynamics between the heads of corporate finance and of corporate technology ("Facing An IT Future," June 18, 2001). The overwhelming consensus is that top financial executives will play larger roles in understanding and evaluating business-technology projects, in addition to helping to determine levels of funding for such efforts. But none of the CFOs we contacted said the CIO position is in danger of becoming obsolete, and many forecast an ongoing peer-level partnership of mutual benefit and respect and love and peace where one hand scratches the other and one back washes another or some such happy-talk silliness. Right--and they'll probably pool their incomes and split them 50-50, too.

Please. Whatever you choose to believe about how the future will play out, don't believe that the status will remain quo. We're approaching some sort of situation, and whether you describe it as an inflection point, a vacuum that needs to be filled, or political infighting or a train wreck, something's got to change--if for no other reason than there is too much at stake: for businesses, for the decisions that power (or cripple) those companies, for customers and partners, and for the high-powered individuals and careers involved. Jump two years into the future: Your company's looking to make a huge acquisition, and in the course of due diligence, your CEO wants to know how the terrific business-technology infrastructure of the to-be-acquired company will be integrated with yours--and how much savings can be realized. Who will he/ she turn to for that analysis: CFO or CIO?

Or a strategic partner proposes your two companies spin out a jointly owned subsidiary to handle back-office functions for your companies as well as customers and new prospects. Who's in a better position to offer a strategic yet detail-oriented overview complete with specific recommendations: CIO or CFO? If the CFO of today is responsible for financial information, what will the CFO of tomorrow be responsible for: Financial knowledge? Plus business information? And business knowledge?

Which prompts a few other questions: What is the CIO of today responsible for? And what will the CIO of tomorrow be responsible for? Technology details and technology information or business information and knowledge? Customer knowledge? Change, innovation, collaboration, and customer-centric behavior?

Send your answers to the address below, and the best one will receive a brand-new hard-bound copy of Introduction To Accounting, or an information T-shirt.

BOB EVANS
Editor-in-Chief
[email protected]